​​Life for refugee children in this camp is particularly harsh. Unemployment stands at 60%, there are high levels of disability, with limited services in place to address this. The supply of water to the camp is often rationed, and extreme poverty and overcrowding prevail.

Despite the upsurge of violence across the region, The Sheepfold continues to help children and young people with a wide range of special needs, especially those with no other place to go with severe disabilities.

Music Therapy is a powerful medium which helps children who may struggle to express themselves. This project was initiated in 2015 by ABCD Trustee and Music Therapist, Canon Claire Tillotson, in conjunction with Paediatric Psychiatrist Dr Souha Shehadeh, who leads the Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BASR) Mental Health Team.

Music Therapy is a powerful medium which helps children who may struggle to express themselves. This project was initiated in 2015 by ABCD Trustee and Music Therapist, Canon Claire Tillotson, in conjunction with Paediatric Psychiatrist Dr Souha Shehadeh, who leads the Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BASR) Mental Health Team.

The people of Bethlehem are now under lockdown due to the Coronavirus outbreak

Edmund Shehadeh, the Director reports:

We are currently looking after 30 infected patients and helping to support over 2,500 people in Bethlehem under precautionary home isolation, and this number is still increasing.

Our work relies on voluntary donations and this pandemic has brought us to breaking point.

We are critically short of basic hygiene necessities such as gloves, masks, hygiene kits, sterilization material and sterilized gowns. We are running short of antibiotics, fever reducers and other medication for existing patients who are now at high risk of contracting the virus.

We appeal to friends of McCabe to help BASR continue to be a shining example of Christian love to the people of Bethlehem.